Experience: After student ministries during College & Seminary, served 15 years as Minister of the new First Christian, St. Ann, MO (during which our congregation swarmed 4 more new congregations & helped start 10 more in the St. Louis area); 2 years as Associate Director of North American Christian Convention, Cincinnati, OH; 8 years as President of Dallas Christian College, Dallas, TX; and, after 25 years with Central Christian, Brownsville, TX., I retired, moving to Kansas, OK & now serve Ridge Chapel.

Comment to those looking at my sermons: I’m a much better editor & rewriter than I am a creative writer, therefore much of what I preach is a distillation & reworking of what I have read or heard from others. I am convinced that we are part of a divine chain-reaction that will never cease. If what I write, or how I say it, is of any help to you as you prepare your sermons, then I praise God for it. And may He receive all the glory!

One of my favorite illustrations: True story: It was a very important meeting in Atuntze on the border of China & Tibet. Chinese officials, a number of local authorities, & representatives of a Tibetan warlord, (some of whom had never seen a white man before) were meeting with my father, a medical missionary, to find out why we were there. Sitting in the back of the room next to an old Tibetan man, I listened as my father told the old, old story to a group of men, most of whom had never even heard the name of Jesus before.
As

What my spouse (really) thinks of my sermons: The first draft of my sermon is usually 10-12 typewritten pages. After rewriting it 3 or 4 times it is about 7 pages long. Then I give it to my wife & request that she help me eliminate about 2 more pages. And she does! Now if I could just get her to write my sermons in the first place... Seriously, her insight has enhanced the quality of my sermons. And since she is already familiar with it, she goes to the church prayer room to pray for me as I preach. And that makes a real difference!

Best advice given to me about preaching: Many years ago my father, who was a missionary (China, Tibet, Philippines), a College President, and a church planter (36 that I know about) said, "Preach so that a 12-year-old child can understand, and somehow the adults will catch on."
In more recent years, the preaching of Dennis Slaughter, now Minister Emeritus of Valley View Christian, Dallas, TX has had a profound effect on my preaching content and style - particularly in helping me develop a more conversational presentation.

Newest Sermons

Contributed on Feb 15, 2018

| 230 views

There is one loyalty that should stand in a class by itself. It is a loyalty that can permeate & add even more meaning to all other loyalties. This is loyalty to Jesus Christ. (Powerpoints Available - #172)

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS OK
(Powerpoints used with this message are available for free. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request #172.)
TEXT: Matthew 26:31-35
Much of what we do in life is influenced by our loyalties. Often-times our loyalties shape
...read more

Contributed on Jan 20, 2018

| 1,204 views

God’s people were assured that God would be with them, that He would never forsake ANYONE who feared Him & kept His commandments. (PowerPoints Available - #339)

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(PowerPoints used with this message are available for free. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request #339.)
TEXT: Hebrews 13:1-6; Deuteronomy 31:8
ILL. I wish you could have known Bessie Hanna. She was a long-time member of
...read more

Contributed on Jan 15, 2018

based on 1 rating

| 1,756 views

We have no way of knowing just when "the last days" will be. But the Apostle Paul does have something to say about how we should be living as we face our "last days," whenever that may be. (PowerPoints Available - #338)

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(PowerPoints used with this message are available at no charge. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request #338.)
TEXT: Romans 13:8-14
A. As some of you know, I spent most of the last two weeks stuck at home with a sore
...read more

Contributed on Aug 31, 2017

based on 2 ratings

| 3,903 views

There is no book in the Bible that has more to say about being ambitious & the lack of ambition than the book of Proverbs. (PowerPoints Available - #337)

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(PowerPoints used with this message are available at no charge. Just email me at mnewlande@sstelco.com and request #337.)
TEXT: Proverbs 24:30-34
There is no book in the Bible that has more to say about
...read more

Contributed on Aug 15, 2017

| 4,360 views

Fear of disturbing someone with the mention of God is becoming more & more prevalent. You see, even mentioning Jesus – unless as a curse word - seems certain to offend some people. (PowerPoints Available - #336)

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(PowerPoints used with this message are available at no charge. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com & request #336
TEXT: 2 Timothy 2:8; Isaiah 53:5 (NCV); Romans 1:16
I don't know just how much you are aware of some of the
...read more

Newest Text Illustrations

Contributed on Sep 3, 2009

| 1,193 views

OLD FAT BALD HERO
One of the great sports stories of the decade of the 1990’s was of George Foreman regaining the heavyweight boxing championship of the world. At age 45, George Foreman, more than a decade past the prime of most fighters, knocked out his opponent, Michael Moore, and regained
...read more

Contributed on Sep 3, 2009

| 1,213 views

AFRAID OF WHAT?
Jack Benson was a missionary to China. He was held up by some bandits who took all his valuables & then held a gun to his head & forced him to kneel in the road. They told him they were going to shoot him.
Benson knelt calmly, maintaining his composure through it all. The
...read more

Contributed on Sep 3, 2009

based on 2 ratings

| 1,416 views

MISTAKEN FOR JESUS
Some years ago I heard an interesting story about a young boy living in Paris at the end of the World War II. He had been orphaned by the atrocities committed by the German forces. Now all alone, he was having to scrounge around the ruined city as best as he could to find
...read more

Contributed on Sep 3, 2009

| 906 views

DOES HE SHOW THROUGH?
One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother & said, "Mommy, there’s something about the preacher’s message this morning that I don’t understand."
The mother said, "Oh? What is it?"
The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God
...read more